Bandai Namco announced earlier this week that Blue Protocol for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S will be shutting down in Japan on January 18th. Furthermore, the game will no longer be making its way to the West which was expected to happen later this year with Amazon Games as the English language publisher. In a Google translated post on the game’s Japanese homepage the team stated that “we have determined that it is beyond our capabilities to continue providing a service that satisfies everyone”. The post includes a timeline of events leading up to the shutdown and a video from the team discussing the news (both in Japanese).
Amazon Games then relayed the news on the game’s Steam Store page while Bandai Namco provided a separate announcement in English on the Blue Protocol homepage, both of which follow below.
Today, Bandai Namco Online announced that they have made the difficult decision to end service on Blue Protocol. They will shut down their Japanese Blue Protocol servers in January 2025, and have ended plans to release the game in the West in collaboration with Amazon Games.
In their statement announcing the end of service, Bandai Namco Online said, “We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol, and both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world.”
We know this is disappointing news, and we share your disappointment. We love the world and characters of Blue Protocol, and we were excited to welcome players around the world into Regnas. We join Bandai Namco Online in expressing deep gratitude to the passionate fans who followed Blue Protocol development and participated in the Closed Technical Test.
We have great respect and appreciation for the talented team at Bandai Namco, and wish them success in their next endeavors. You can read Bandai Namco Online’s full statement about Blue Protocol here.
Steam Announcement – August 27, 2024
We regret to inform you that the Japanese version of Blue Protocol will be discontinued on Saturday January 18, 2025.
As a result, we have also canceled our plans to release a Western version of the game in collaboration with Amazon Games. We have enjoyed a strong relationship with Amazon Games throughout the development of Blue Protocol, and both of our teams are disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the game to players around the world.
We know there has been great anticipation for Blue Protocol since the first announcement of the game. We wanted to deliver an experience that is like stepping into the world of anime, and we have been challenging ourselves to create a world where each and every player can enjoy adventures as the main character of the anime. We have worked hard to prepare for the release; however, we have come to the conclusion that it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you.
We deeply apologize for the sudden announcement.
Blue Protocol Announcement – August 27, 2024
Those who were waiting for the English release may now wish to jump into the game on PC, Xbox, or PlayStation. While the language barrier may be steep, the price of entry for the free-to-play title is at least low. We’ve added the date to the Watch List calendar and will have a page up on the site later. Thanks to HandMaskTar for pointing out the news on this one.